SUE JACKSON Therapist/Writer/Photographer/Activist

Last year, as the unofficial blogger/photographer to the anti-East-West Link campaign, our battles were my blog's entire focus. But by Christmas, with the electoral win for people power and the dumping of the dud Tunnel, I was suddenly at a loss.
What to write about now? Not sure yet. But there will be ongoing musings and images from this Australian life. So please leave a message. (No need to sign into an account. Simply comment as ‘anonymous’; then leave your name within the comment itself.)

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Backwards to the Future - no thanks!

Last Sunday at the Walk against Warming rally, you could have found us, along with several hundred other crazies, struggling to avoid the puddles and each others' toes, as we walked backwards en masse across Melbourne's City Square. This exercise was designed to symbolise that even in the face of the global climate crisis and with a mere week until the Federal Election, the two major parties are still determined to lead Australia backwards. No wonder the Walk against Warming's catchcry is 'We're doing our bit on climate change. It's time for our leaders to do theirs'.

And ordinary people are doing much more than their bit. Last weekend, thousands of volunteers hand-delivered leaflets outlining the respective stances on climate change of the Coalition, Labor and the Greens to letterboxes across Australia. No prizes for guessing whose proposed policies came out on top. But despite that, rally organisers were determined not to give up on the Coalition or Labor, but instead to continue exhorting them to change their policies right up until the eleventh hour.

It is particularly nerve-wracking and exciting at the moment to be living in the electorate of Melbourne because Adam Bandt has a real chance of being returned as the first ever Greens member of the House of Representatives. The Greens calculate that it would require only one in ten Labor supporters to change their vote for this to happen.

Wandering around our neighbourhood, which admittedly is the Greens' bastion - Yarra Council appointed the first ever Australian Greens mayor a couple of years back - I'd estimate Greens placards in shop windows and front gardens are running at about double those of Labor. And I haven't spotted a single one for the Liberals. We can but hope.

Yesterday I watched Cate Blanchett's 'call to action' on a very uplifting video, produced by the Australian Conservation Foundation. Outlining the necessity for Australia to become a trailblazer in the production of clean energy she concluded: 'If we don't speak up, who will?' Go Cate!

I intend to hunker down in front of the TV this weekend, with football the last thing on my mind. If you are inclined to pray, now is the time.